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Benjamin Shingler
Telegraph-Journal

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FREDERICTON - One of the world's largest producers of medical equipment is disputing claims that it has an inside track when it comes to winning contracts tendered by the Liberal government.

General Electric Canada says it follows the tendering process like every other company when competing for contracts in New Brunswick and elsewhere.

"Our practice is to follow the public tendering processes and the rules and the regulations around that, regardless of what province that we're in - whether it's New Brunswick or Ontario or British Columbia," Terri Lohnes, an official for GE Healthcare Canada, said Friday.

The comment echoed similar remarks by former health minister Mike Murphy, who said the province just tries to find the best deal possible when it comes to medical equipment.

Concerns about General Electric's relationship with the Liberal government surfaced earlier this week when Jamal Instrum, CEO of Atlantic Medical Imaging Services Inc. (AMIS), claimed that GE appears to be favoured by the government when it comes to purchasing medical equipment.

Instrum wants to know why the New Brunswick government turned down his company's proposed $65-million, public-private partnership, which he says would have opened the door to leading-edge health services across the province.

He says the partnership would have given the province's doctors access to state-of-the-art medical equipment at no extra cost to taxpayers.

Developed by Toshiba Medical Systems, the technology allows doctors to pinpoint cardiac weaknesses and other health problems using advanced CT scanners, MRIs and ultrasound machines.

Despite early enthusiasm about the partnership from several members of the Liberal government, including Murphy, Instrum says the plan was suddenly quashed by Premier Shawn Graham in April. After months of presentations, meetings and correspondence, Instrum received a short letter from Graham rejecting the proposal.

Several recent contracts for the provision of digital mammography equipment in Moncton, Saint John and the Miramichi have gone to GE, the world's biggest maker of medical-imaging equipment.

Lohnes says General Electric won those contracts fair and square, as it does every winning bid.

"We would submit what we believe is the best technology for what they are looking for, and the best value and service that they're looking for in that hospital or that clinic," she said. "Often, then there are one-on-one meetings with vendors - for all of those who respond, it's not just one - and then there are also follow-up visits to see how that technology is used in a clinical setting."

The Liberal government also denies giving preference to General Electric. Spokeswoman Meghan Cumby says the Health Department considered the proposal from AMIS, but in the end decided the costs were too high.

"While the company was offering $65-million equipment up front, the cost of that equipment would be built into ongoing service fees," Cumby stated in an e-mail on Friday. "The on-going lease cost was going to be $22 million per year. The annual cost was higher than what the province would normally pay for this type of equipment and those annual costs would quickly negate the value of the free equipment being offered."

Instrum, however, says a lease cost was never part of the proposal.

"We didn't ask them for one red penny," he said. "There is no up-front fee for the government."

Cumby also says that in order for the proposal to be accepted, the request-for-proposal process would have had to be bypassed on the multimillion dollar contract, because AMIS approached the Department of Health directly.

"There are other medical equipment suppliers in New Brunswick," Cumby said. "The department did not want the RFP process to be by-passed."

Instrum also contests that claim. He contends his company was prepared to participate in an RFP and told the government that at the time.

As health minister, Murphy seemed to be one of the early supporters of private clinics for diagnostic imaging. He promised legislation last spring addressing the issue of private clinics in the province, but that never materialized. Murphy said recently the whole issue of private health services is still being studied by the government.